Merrick here...
I've never been a big fan of Brett Ratner. In general, I find his films lifeless, styleless, and tepid. I did enjoy THE FAMILY MAN and TOWER HEIST quite a bit, although I suspect something happened behind the scenes on those pictures to lessen Ratner's ultimate influence on them. To be clear, I have no actual knowledge of this whatsoever. I'm just voicing a suspicion, based on how un-Ratnery they feel on the whole.
As such, it is bittersweet interest that I learned the following: seems the mighty and awesome Dwayne Johnson is in talks to star in a HERCULES film for Brett Ratner. The Ryan Condol-scripted project would be an adaptation of the 2008 graphic novel HERCULES: THE THRACIAN WARS. More via THIS piece in Variety.
I sure do love Dwayne Johnson's appearances in...just about anything. He's got a classic and rare charisma which works wonders for nearly any scene he's in. This said, I kinda wish someone other than Ratner were making this film with Johnson. It doesn't feel like a fit for Ratner (but what is?). The turgid and awkward X-MEN: THE LAST STAND fully demonstrated that mega-sized movies might not be the director's strong suit. Of course, that film drew in nearly $500 million globally, so quality and ability really don't necessarily play into such equations.
Hercules was famously brought to the screen by Steve Reeves in the 1950s, and more recently realized by Kevin Sorbo on the HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS television series. For my money, once the great Lou Ferrigno played the role in 1983, no other Hercules project could possibly compare. You can interpret this last comment in any number of ways, and most likely all of them would be at least partially correct.
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